Unit 2 — Producing/Presenting
Description
Students demonstrate an understanding of how and why art is created. They analyze, interpret, and convey meaning in their artwork using skills, media, and methods developed during creating, performing, and presenting. Students understand that presenting and sharing objects, artifacts, and artworks influence and shape ideas, beliefs, and experiences. The unit addresses how artworks are selected, prepared for display, and preserved. Students learn about museums, galleries, and other venues for presentation and explore the roles of curators and presenters in valuing and preserving art.
Essential Questions
- How are complex media arts experiences and visual art presentations constructed?
- What criteria, methods, and processes are used to select work for preservation or presentation?
- How does refining and preparing artwork affect its meaning to the viewer?
- How do objects, artifacts, and artworks collected, preserved, or presented cultivate appreciation and understanding?
Learning Objectives
- Select artwork for display and explain why some works, objects, and artifacts are valued over others.
- Categorize artwork based on a theme or concept for an exhibition.
- Explain the purpose of a portfolio or collection.
- Ask and answer questions regarding preparing artwork for presentation or preservation.
- Explain what an art museum is and identify the roles and responsibilities of people who work in and visit museums and exhibit spaces.
- Analyze how art exhibits inside and outside of schools contribute to communities.
- Combine art forms and media content into media artworks such as illustrated stories or narrated animations.
- Practice combining varied academic, arts, and media content to form media artworks.
Supplemental Resources
- Pocket folders or binders for collecting and organizing work into portfolios
- Chart paper for planning and documenting display decisions
- Index cards for labeling and describing artworks in exhibitions
- Printed images of museum displays and gallery arrangements for reference
- Sticky notes for annotating and reflecting on presentation choices
Music - Performing
Media Arts - Presenting
Students create art that tells stories about home, school, and community life, compare and contrast artwork from different cultures and time periods, and understand how art reflects societal values and beliefs.
Students discuss and describe artwork using visual arts vocabulary, ask and answer questions about artistic choices, and express ideas and responses through drawing, writing, and oral communication.
Formative Assessments
- Projects involving curation and display decisions
- Discussion and question-and-answer sessions about why specific artworks are selected for presentation
- Observation of student planning and refinement of work for display
Summative Assessment
Students develop a plan for displaying and conserving their final artworks. Students consider specific criteria when selecting a presentation, portfolio, or collection, demonstrating understanding that the processes of curation help preserve artifacts and artworks.
Benchmark Assessment
School-wide displays of student work and end-of-year art show
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through pointing to or physically selecting artwork for display with teacher guidance, accompanied by verbal responses to simple questions about their choices. Visual supports such as picture cards or color-coded category labels may be used to help organize and sort artworks by theme.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students may benefit from visual supports such as picture-based examples of museums, galleries, and display spaces to build understanding of curation concepts. When explaining why artwork is selected or categorized, allow students to respond orally, through pointing, or by dictating their thinking to the teacher rather than producing written explanations. Breaking multi-step tasks — such as planning how to display or preserve artwork — into single, clearly sequenced steps with visual or physical models of each stage can support processing and task completion. Frequent check-ins during open-ended planning work will help students stay on track and receive timely feedback.
Section 504
Provide preferential seating during discussions and demonstrations about museum roles and curation so students can attend to visual examples without distraction. Allow extended time during planning and display-preparation tasks, and offer a quiet or low-distraction space when students are making selection decisions about their artwork.
ELL / MLL
Introduce and reinforce key vocabulary related to this unit — such as museum, gallery, curator, exhibit, display, and preserve — using picture cards, labeled photographs of real spaces, and repeated exposure in context before and during lessons. Give directions in short, simple steps and invite students to show their understanding through gestures, pointing, or arranging artwork physically before being asked to explain verbally. Where possible, connect the concept of valuing and displaying meaningful objects to cultural practices familiar to students' home communities.
At Risk (RTI)
Connect the concept of curation and display to experiences students already have, such as choosing a favorite drawing to hang at home or organizing personal belongings, to build a familiar entry point into more abstract ideas about art presentation. Simplify the scope of planning tasks so students focus on one clear decision at a time — such as choosing one piece of artwork and giving one reason for their choice — before expanding to broader categorization or exhibition planning. Use concrete, hands-on arrangements of actual student artwork to make the curation process tangible and approachable.
Gifted & Talented
Encourage students to think more deeply about the decision-making process behind curation by exploring questions such as who gets to decide what art is valued, and why certain artworks are preserved while others are not. Students can extend their understanding by considering how the arrangement or grouping of artworks changes the meaning or story an exhibition tells, moving beyond selection into interpretive and curatorial reasoning. Inviting students to develop a more detailed rationale for their display choices — including how their collection might speak to an audience or reflect a unifying idea — supports higher-level thinking in the context of this unit.